研究發現 用語模式揭示人體對壓力的隱藏反應

There are some words which, when spoken frequently, might indicate that you are stressed, a new US study has found.

美國一項最新研究發現，頻繁使用某些詞語可能意味着你的壓力有點大。

According to a group of speech experts, when someone is stressed they will naturally use more adverbs such as "really", "so" and "very".

根據一組演講專家的表現，當他們緊張時會使用一些諸如“實際上”、“這樣”、“非常”這樣的副詞。

They will also speak less, the researchers found.

研究人員還發現壓力大往往還會伴隨着寡言。

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study examined the speech patterns of 143 volunteers, each of whom wore a voice recorder which was turned on every few minutes for two days.

《美國國家科學院院刊》雜誌上發表的一項研究，通過讓143名志願者每人都佩戴一個隔幾分鐘記錄一次的聲音記錄儀，從而分析這些志願者的說話模式。

Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona, subsequently transcribed and studied the recordings, listening out for any repeated words and expressions.

亞利桑那大學的心理學家馬蒂亞斯·梅爾隨後對這些錄音進行了轉錄和研究，着重聽那些重複的單詞和表達。

He was particularly interested in the volunteers' use of pronouns and adjectives. "By themselves they don't have any meaning, but they clarify what's going on," Mehl told Nature.

梅爾對志願者的代詞和形容詞的使用特別感興趣。他向《自然》透露：“這些代詞和形容詞本身可能沒有任何意義，但卻能反映一些事情。”

Next, he and a team of genomicists analysed participants' psychological stress levels by looking at the gene expression in their white blood cells.

隨後，他和一些基因學家通過觀察參與者白細胞中的基因表達，來分析他們的心理壓力水平。

In addition to finding that stressed participants were more likely to use adverbs, they also found that they were less likely to use third-person plural pronouns such as "their" and "they".

除了有壓力的參與者更有可能使用副詞，他們還發現這些人不太使用“他們的”和“他們”這樣的第三人稱複數代詞。

This might be due to the fact that people tend to focus on themselves when they feel under pressure, rather than thinking about those around them, the researchers suggested.

研究人員表示，這可能是因爲人們在感到壓力時傾向於關注自己，而不是考慮其他人。

They concluded that speech patterns were a better indicator of stress levels than a volunteer's personal assessment.

因此他們得出結論，語言模式比志願者的個人評估更能反映壓力水平。